Monthly meeting, Wednesday 11th
December 2013. Attended by 21 members and 2 guests.

The Christmas meal was held at the at the Staunton Arms Harvester on
Saturday the 7th of December and was attended by 25 members and 4 guests.
Our thanks to the organizer, who took this task on at very short notice.

There is a club dig for each Sunday between
now and the next meeting. Our Site B is now available on any Wednesday.
Also, the North field of Site C is now available for detecting, - see the
map on the 'Members Only' page of solentmdc.co.uk.

Members were reminded that our next meeting on
the 8th of January 2014 would be the Annual General Meeting. As the new
committee would be elected and a change to the club rules proposed, it is
hoped that as many members as possible would attend.

Members are reminded that only paid-up members
with current FID or NCMD insurance are allowed on the clubs farms. No
Guests, friends, relatives or other members of the public are allowed on
the sites as they do not have permission and are not insured. The club
cannot take responsibility for non members.

Once again I would like to remind members to
look at the website on a regular basis so that they get information on
club activities, changes to the digs schedule etc.

The club limit on membership numbers remains at 50,
but there will be about 11 vacancies in the club for new members for 2014.
The first 11 members on the waiting list have been invited to join. If
some do not take up the offer then a few more vacancies may become
available. It is proposed to limit the area from which members are taken,
as it has been found that members who live some distance away do not
attend the meetings and do not join in with club activities. Also, it is
proposed to increase the number of meetings that must be attended in order
to continue membership in the following year. The cost of attending a dig
will also be increased in 2014.

The next monthly meeting will be on the 8th of January 2014. The FLO
will be in attendance so please bring along those finds for
identification/recording.

Monthly meeting, Wednesday 13th
November 2013. Attended by 22 members and 2
guests.

There is a farm available for detecting each Sunday for
the 4 Sundays up to the next meeting. Also we have one farm that can be
detected on any day until the fields are seeded.

The meeting was attended by our FLO. who was kept busy with members
finds. To show our appreciation for her attendance at our meetings during
this year and for help with finds recording, the FLO was presented with
some wine. We have built up a good working relationship with Katie our FLO
during her first year with the club and hope to continue this in the
coming year. The FLO's next visit to the club will be at the January
meeting.

Our raffle continues to provide funds for the club, and the income for
digs attendance will continue to be put aside for donation to the charity
we support, the Rosemary Foundation.

The members of the committee present at the meeting got together to
discuss some rule changes. These will affect the recruiting of new
members, so invitations to join the club will not be sent out until full
agreement is reached on these issues. The limit of 50 members will
continue for 2014. It is estimated that there will be about 10 vacancies
for new members for 2014. The proposed new rules will limit the area from
which we take members to a radius of 20 miles around Waterlooville
excluding the Isle of Wight and the area to the west of Southampton Water.
Also, members will be required to attend at least one meeting for each
quarter of the year to retain membership. This will increase the required
attendance from 3 to 4 meetings and spread the attendance throughout the
year.

A further change under consideration is that the fee for attending a
dig will increase from £3 to £4 although this has not yet been agreed by
the committee.

Comments from members concerning these proposed changes are welcome.
The final wording of the rules will be presented to the membership for
acceptance at the AGM on the 8th of January 2014.

The Christmas dinner has now been booked, with 23 members and 4 guests
to attend.

Please note,- the next meeting will be on the 11th December 2013 at the
usual venue.

Monthly meeting Wednesday, 9th October 2013. This meeting
was attended by 24 members and 1 guest. The Chairman's introduction to the
meeting included the following tops:-

Would members please pay
their membership fee ( £10 ) for 2014 as soon as possible., but certainly
before the end of the year. This will enable the secretary to know, in
good time, how many places would be available for new members.

The committee will be meeting to discuss the club rule regarding
the number of club monthly meetings that must be attended by members in
the year in order to qualify for continued membership.

The AGM will be held during the January 2014 monthly meeting on
the second Wednesday of January 2014.

The Christmas dinner was now being organized and members who
wish to attend should let the club secretary know as soon as possible. The
dinner is free for members, but guests must be paid for. The venue and
date are yet to be decided.

A club dig is available for the 5 Sundays between now and the
next meeting.

The club raffle continues to provide funds for the club.
Members are requested to purchase at least one ticket when attending the
meetings and any donations of items for prizes would be appreciated.

Our Finds Liaison Officer ( FLO ) will be in attendance at the
next meeting to record finds on the PAS.

Next meeting, Wednesday, 13th November 2013.

Monthly meeting 11th September
2013. Attended by 27 members and one
guest. Digs sites for the next 4 weeks were scheduled although some fields
are being seeded and in case fields on the designated farms were found to
be unavailable, alternatives have been put on the programme, see the
member's only page of solentmdc.co.uk. Please note that when logging
in to the member's page, your email address is not required and this field
should be left blank.

There was a short discussion on the
Brighton Club rally.

Our FLO was in attendance and was kept busy with
member's finds.

Next meeting will be on the 9th October 2013.

The Brighton club rally at Scallow Bridge on Sunday
the 1st September 2013.

Eleven members went by mini bus ( organized by the club and free to
members ) and two members used their own transport, so a total of 13
members attended this rally. We were charged the 'in advance' fee of
£13.50 rather than the 'on the day' fee of £15.00 as the club had given
notice of it's intended attendance.
The weather was good all day - dry and warm, even too warm at times. The
Burnt House field was available as advertised, but the pasture field was
changed for a ( much larger) ploughed field. Both fields were easy
digging, although the remains of clumps of corn stubble in the Burnt House
field made swinging a detector close to the ground a little difficult at
times. There were tokens buried in a small defined area of the Burnt House
field, 5 in total I am told. The prize for each token was £15. The
facilities were as advertised and the organization was good. Most people
stayed until the 4.00pm end.
My impression was that the fields had not been detected before although
finds were not all that plentiful. Some coins and modern artefacts were
found and, I am told that some hammered coins and a roman fibula broach
were found. If anyone has any information on the finds made perhaps they
would let me know. There were overhead electricity grid wires in one of
the fields which affected some detectors, but there was plenty of land to
search, so this was no handicap. If you have seen any report of the
results of this rally, please let me know and I can pass it on to members.

August 14th Club meeting.
21 members and 1 guest attended this meeting. Members were reminded of the
Scallow Bridge (Brighton) rally due to take place on the 1st of
September. The mini-bus will leave the RNA club car park at 7.00 am.
Details of this rally are posted on the Notice Board page of this website
and more details are given on the Members Only page of solentmdc.co.uk

Club digs, - Site C may now be available for detecting ( at
any time ) but members need to check that suitable fields are available.
There is a farm available each Sunday until the next meeting. For details,
see the bottom of the Notice board page on this website or the Members
Only area of solentmdc.co.uk Site F has now become available
and is on the schedule for Sunday the 18th August 2013. This is a good
opportunity to detect while the fields have been prepared for the next
crop.

The raffle continues to bring in an income for the club. Don't forget
to buy at least one ticket at the meetings and do bring along any suitable
unwanted items for inclusion in the raffle.

The next meeting will be on the 11th September 2013 when our FLO will
be in attendance, so bring along your finds.

Meanwhile, I will see you at the Scallow Bridge rally. Best of luck to
everyone who attends. Do let me know what you find!

July club meeting, 10th July 2013.
16 members attended.

We have land to search for each Sunday until the next meeting ( 5
Sundays ). Site G has an additional field for search. The new field is
identified on the map in the Members Only area of solentmdc.co.uk.

The FLO was in attendance at this meeting to deal with the past months
finds.

We are arranging a mini-bus for the Brighton Rally on the 1st
September, please contact the organizer if you wish to have a place on
this trip. Further details for this rally will shortly be available on the
Members Only page of solentmdc.co.uk

Next meeting. - 14th August 2013.

Club meeting, 13th June 2013.
Attended by 19 members and one guest.

The chairman informed members that the donation of £500 had been
presented to the Rosemary Foundation, by our treasurer, at their offices
on the 13th of June. Letters of thanks had been received from the
Foundation and a note and the photograph had been placed on their website.
See the Notice Board page for the photo and details.

This month we have a dig each Sunday, however, it has been
reported that the grass is too long for detecting at the site scheduled
for the 13th of June. The grass may have been cut by then, but please
check this web site for further information.

Members are reminded that the club is proposing to
organize a mini-bus for the Brighton rally on Sunday the 1st of September.
If you wish to go on this rally with the club, please put your name on the
list at the next meeting or asap. See the Notice Board page for details.
The site is not far from the Possingworth site of last year.

The FLO will be in attendance at our next meeting, so
bring along those finds for identification and recording.

Next meeting, Wednesday the 10th July 2013.

Club meeting, 8th May
2013. 25 members and one guest attended
this month's meeting.

This month we have a
reduced number of digs available due to growing crops and lambing. Of the
5 weeks before the next meeting, there are only two digs, - see bottom of
the notice board, or the 'member's only' area. If you haven't tried beach
detecting, give it a try at this time when land is unavailable. Bring you
beach finds along to the meeting and show other members just what can be
found on our beaches!

The club is considering attending the Brighton
rally at Scallow Bridge.

Brighton & District MDC Rally Sun 1st Sept 2013

Scallow Bridge, East Hoathly, East Sussex...Start 10am to
4pmTickets pre paid, adult £13.50, under 16 years of age
£10, or £15 on the day...60+acres of rolled/pasture
fields..Toilets..Refreshments at reasonable prices..Tokens buried for
cash prizes..Raffle,drawn at 1pm...Sussex FLO Stephanie Smith will
attend to record finds..A donation will be made to a charity of the
Farmers choice, East Sussex Hospice...For tickets & any further info
please contact Barry 01273 582515 or get info from club.

The £500 donation to the Rosemary Foundation will
be made during the next few weeks.

Our FLO, Katie Hinds attended the meeting to
record member's finds.

Members were reminded that the 'Find of the
Month' competition would be held at the next meeting, so bring along your
finds and you may be rewarded with the Club's prestigious 'Find of the
Month' certificate.

Some good finds were shown around by
members and the usual discussions took place along with the raffle which
continues to provide a reasonable source of funds for the club. Don't
forget to bring along those unwanted gifts, detecting magazines etc for
donating to next months raffle.

Our next meeting will be on Wedneday the 12th of
June at the usual venue.

10th April 2013 monthly meeting.
This meeting was attended by 21 members and 1 guest. One more new member
was welcomed to the club.

Two suggestions from this meeting were:-

1) That the 'Find of the month' competition would be held
on alternate meetings starting on the June meeting ( scheduled for
Wednesday the 12th of June ). The rules of this competition are that the
items submitted must have been found on club sites since the last meeting.
The winner will be awarded a Find of the Month certificate. The finds, or
photos of finds if the find has been submitted to the FLO, will be
assessed by the members present at the meeting and the winner will be
selected by majority vote.

2) It has been suggested that the meeting place of each of the
clubs detecting sites be identified by post code to enable users of Sat
Nav/GPS to find the site. These post codes will be published on the
members page of this website and also issued to members on the Monthly
Digs List.

Members were reminded that Sunday 14th April 2013 - is
Meon Springs Country Fair. This is held at West Meon.
Details from 01730 823134. It is a great day out for
all the family, with Fieldsports, Farming and Fishing attractions. For
information on this event see
www.meonsprings.com/country-day

This year the Brill ( Buckinghamshire ) metal detecting rally will be held
on the 28th April 2013. The cost is £15 per person. Start time, 9-15am.
Please check the Internet for details.

This month we had two reports from members about searches for lost
items. The first was for a very small hearing aid, lost in a garden at
Beaulieu. An identical hearing aid was available, but gave no response on
the metal detector or the pro-pointer, so dowsing for the item was
attempted. No success on this occasion though, but thanks to the member
for trying. Another member reported having searched for a ring , but this
was lost somewhere in an area of about 5 acres in the Midhurst area, but
no success with this one either. Thanks to this member for trying.

After the usual raffle, members showed and discussed their recent finds.

Next meeting will be on the 8th of May 2013, usual venue. Please note, our
FLO is due to attend this meeting.

Monthly meeting, 13th March 2013.
22 members and 1 guest were at this meeting. The meeting was attended by
our FLO Katie Hinds and also by PC Jon Radcliffe who had come to give us a
talk on crime in the countryside including 'heritage crime' such as
nighthawking.

In his opening talk, the chairman
welcomed the two new members who were present. Members were once again
reminded that they must sign in when attending the meetings.

As the treasurer had stated that we did not have
quite enough in the charity fund to make the £500 donation to the Rosemary
Foundation Trust, the club would make up the shortfall from club funds.
Also, as it was such short notice for the Rosemary Foundation Easter Fayre
on the 23rd of March, the club could make the donation at the charity
offices in Petersfield instead. The date and time will be announced.

It was suggested that the club be represented at the next
public charity event, such as the Rosemary Foundation Summer Fete. It is
some time since we have given a demonstration of metal detecting and
collected for charity at one of these events.

The chairman then introduced PC Jon Radcliffe who had come to
the meeting to talk to members about Crime in the countryside with
particular reference to 'Heritage crime' including illegal metal
detecting, otherwise known as 'nighthawking'.

Jon Radcliffe opened his talk by explaining that his special duties with
Hampshire Police involved the various aspects of crime in the countryside,
and that his 'patch' was roughly the area of Hampshire north of the M5. In
this very entertaining an informative talk, Jon spoke briefly of rural
crime, including wildlife crime, illegal hunting, poaching, hare coursing,
egg collecting etc., and then went on to the subject of 'Heritage crime'
including damage to ancient monuments ( such as graffiti ) and, illegal
metal detecting, commonly known as nighthawking - and the
disturbance of archaeological sites in general. The digging up of
artefacts without the permission of the landowner was a criminal activity.
The selling of artefacts could also be a criminal activity.

Jon told the members that Special
Constables with specialist knowledge of metal detecting or historical
artefacts, such as an experienced metal detectorist might have, were
needed by Hampshire Police, and anyone interested in this rewarding
activity was welcome to contact him at any time. Also, members wishing to
take part in the Country Watch scheme can contact Jon. An application form
is available for download on the Members Only page of this web site. Go to
solentmdc.co.uk, Members Only page. Email me with your name,
membership number and FID/NCMD number if you require the password.

Jon also encouraged members to be aware
when they were out and about in the countryside and report any suspicious
activity to him. Details of how to contact Jon are in the Members Only
section of solentmdc.co.uk. under Club news. He emphasized that the 999 emergency number
was only to be used for a real immediate emergency, such as being
threatened by members of the public whereby a serious situation could
arise. The reporting of less immediate situations, or the reporting of
suspected criminal activity should be done by dialling 101.

The meeting continued with the usual raffle and
Katie Hinds our FLO was kept busy with examining, recording and discussing
members' finds.

Please note, - our next months meeting will be on Wednesday the 10th of
April at the usual venue.

P.S. If you spot any errors or omissions in these reports please let me
know.

Monthly meeting, 13th February
2013. This meeting was attended
by 23 members.

As usual at this time of year the club welcomed the new members.
Experienced members have been allocated for all four Sunday digs for this
month to introduce the new members to the farm and ensure these members
were aware of the site code of conduct and where they could and could not
detect.

Three rallies to be held in 2013 were reported,

16th Royal Wootton Bassett Rotary Club Rally
on the outskirts of Wootton Bassett. 9th March 2013

This is a one day rally, Raffle, Trade Stands and
Toilet Block on site.
These are well executed rallies that are run yearly by
the Rotary Club.
Cost is £18 per detectorist.

Cheques made payable to Wootton Bassett & District
Rotary Club.
Directions to the detecting site are sent nearer the
date.

Apply early to avoid disappointment

See advert on page 77 Feb issue of the Seacher for all
details

Two charity rallies in the Bedfordshire area,
- see the Notice Board page of this website for details.

The FLO, Katie Hinds, would be present at our next meeting on 13th
March. Also, for this meeting, the club has invited PC Jon Radcliffe
to give his talk on the Country Watch scheme with special reference to
nighthawking.

The club also is hoping to have a talk on dowsing.
The date for this will be given on this website when known.

Members were informed that there is now a 'members only' section of the
club's website., accessible by use of a password. This will hold
information applicable to members only. Maps of our farms will be
available ( in colour ) and can be printed out. The list of digs for the
coming month will be available to members.

Members are reminded that they must sign in when attending the
meetings. Both the club signing-in sheet and the RNA Club forms must be
signed. When it is time for membership renewal it is important that
members have attended at least three meetings, and have signed the sheet
for their attendance.

The raffle was held as usual and members were requested to purchase at
least one ticked as the proceeds of the raffle was the only source of club
funds. Also, please contribute any unwanted items as prizes.

No report on the Christmas meal is available at the moment, but see
next months report.

Please note. the next meeting will be on the 13th March 2013.

Annual General Meeting, January 9th
2013:- 28 Members and 2 guests attended this meeting,
including 2 new members.

The meeting opened with the chairman's report for 2012, which included
the following:-

The membership fee will remain at £10 and the farm dig fee at £3 until
further notice.

Rallies,- In September, 11 members went by mini bus to the Somerset
rally at Over Stowey.

Donations to charity. This year the club has not made it's donation to
the Rosemary Foundation, but there is enough in the charity account to
make our usual donation of £500 at the next event, which will probably be
the Easter Fair.

Finds Liaison Officer. Rob Webley moved to Somerset towards the end of
2012, but we now have a new FLO, Katie Hinds. Katie was in attendance at
this meeting, her first visit to the club. She was welcomed by the
chairman.

Christmas dinner,- The 2012 Christmas Dinner for 2012 had to be
postponed and will now take place at the Green Farm Toby Carvery on the
19th of January.

Royal Naval Association. The club had presented the RNA with two
donations of £50 during 2012.

Honorary members,- The club had given honorary membership to two
long-standing members.

Talk on Nighthawking and the countryside. This is now scheduled to take
place at our March meeting.

New members,-- The club's membership limit of 50 is to be
maintained, but this will not now include honorary members. This
change to the rules was proposed, seconded and agreed by the members
present. Two new
members attended the meeting and further new members will be at the
February meeting. Membership for 2013 is now closed, but a waiting list
exists and will be maintained for the 2014 intake.

Donations to the Rosemary Foundation and other charities. It was
proposed that when donations were made we should attempt to get more
publicity and that our landowners should be informed by letter.

Treasurer's report.

The treasurer gave his report for 2012 and presented the balance
sheet. The figures were very similar to 2011 and showed a continued
healthy balance for both the club funds and the charity funds. The balance
sheet will be available for members to view in the Members Only section of
this Web site.

Election of the committee for 2013. All the members of the 2012
committee were re-elected after being proposed and seconded and voted in
by majority vote. The Committee remains the same, with a Chairman,
Secretary, Treasurer, and two other members. Our committee consultant
agreed to continue in this role for 2013.

Any Other business,-

Members were given the opportunity to propose changes to the club
rules. The rules were deemed satisfactory as they stand, the only change
resulting from this meeting is that honorary members will not be included
in the count for the maximum membership limit which, at present
stands at 50.

This concluded the formal AGM business.

New Finds Liaison Officer.

Our new FLO introduced herself to members, She gave a brief
summary of her career so far and made the following points.

She would visit the club every two months but would set a limit of 15
items submitted as this was a practical limit on what could be processed.

She suggested that our landowners should be informed about items, found
on their land, which came under the Treasure Act and possibly all items
that were submitted to the PAS data base.

There then followed the raffle and general discussion concerning
finds made since the last meeting.